Modi Not Welcome in the UK

#ModiNotWelcome #NotInOurName

On 13 and 14 November 2015 the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi will be visiting the UK. His visit is significant for a number of reasons, but most of all, because it marks the rehabilitation of Modi on the world stage. The UK and other western powers who were once exercised by his abysmal human rights record especially towards Muslim minorities, are now cosying up to Modi and wilfully turning a blind eye to his brutal and authoritarian Hindu Right regime that is more characteristic of fascism than it is a thriving democracy.

In Gujarat in 2002, as its Chief Minister, Modi presided over the violence, murder and rape of thousands of Muslim men, women and children and the mass looting and destruction of their homes and property. Hindu mobs and paramilitary forces rampaged through Gujarat incited by the inflammatory speeches of Modi and his extreme right wing Hindu cohorts, including the avowedly Hindu fascist organisation, Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) of which he is a member. The event was nothing short of genocide but to date, Modi has shown no remorse. Instead, he has abdicated moral and political responsibility by directly or through his agents blocking and persecuting anyone who attempts to seek justice.

Far from delivering his election promise to ‘modernise’ and ‘develop’ India, under his watch as Prime Minister, Modi has continued in the same vicious vein; he has fostered intolerance and hatred and unleashed a litany of brutal violence against Muslim, Christian and other minorities and suppressed civil liberties. Modi’s government is responsible for widespread human rights violations and abuses of power which is carried out with impunity. These include:

Dismantling and subverting the secular, democratic and inclusive constitution of India;

Instigating widespread censorship by banning books and films and policing social media and the internet;

Fostering an anti-intellectual culture through the wholesale undermining of educational, arts and science institutions;

Closing down the operations of a range of NGOs and charities such as Greenpeace, Ford Foundation and others;

Generating a culture of fear and silence within civil society;

Initiating violence and extra judicial killings of those deemed to be a ‘threat’ to the state;

Failing to stem horrific levels of rape, sexual and other forms of gender -related violence against women and reinforcing structures of patriarchal power;

Presiding over environmental destruction and encouraging corporate greed and institutional unaccountability by eliminating all legal safeguards to protect the environment and tribal and worker’s rights.

Modi has blood on his hands, yet he remains unapologetic and defiant. Far from being a force for social progress, he spells disaster for the future of Indian secular democracy whose very existence now hangs in the balance.

For all these reasons and more, MODI IS NOT WELCOME IN THE UK. SBS stands for the values of human rights, human dignity, equality and plural democracy in which the rights of all are respected and protected.

We call on all those who also value these principles to stand with us and support our efforts to bring Modi to account for crimes against humanity. Please support the work of Awaaz Network of which SBS is a member.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

Don’t buy the stage-managed, internationally-orchestrated hype about Modi. Find out more. Look up the RSS, the BJP, Narendra Modi and the ideology of Hindutva. Ask why Modi doesn’t take questions from the general public – taking public questions is the job of any politician. Ask why his supporters manage his audience so carefully.

Don’t attend his stage-managed November rally in Wembley. Don’t confuse the myth of Modi with the blood-stained reality.

Get involved with Awaaz. Contact us. Volunteer with Awaaz. Organize teach-ins and speaker meetings. Start an Awaaz student support group on your campus.

Mobilize your friends for the Day of Protest and demonstrations in London on November 12 at 10 Downing Street during Modi’s visit to the UK.